Top Chicago and Illinois officials will be joined by tiny home experts from across the country to discuss the benefits of smaller-footprint housing at Tiny Home Summit 2.0. The Summit is taking place Thursday, June 13, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. at the University of Illinois-Chicago’s Student Center West, 828 S. Wolcott Ave.
A tiny home model, built by Inherent l3c of Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood, will be on site for attendees to observe and tour.
The nationally respected experts convening to discuss and strategize around the housing crisis and the role smaller-footprint homes can play will include:
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Grace Hou, State of Illinois Deputy Governor for Health and Human Services
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Kristin Faust, Illinois Housing Development Authority Executive Director
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Ciere Boatright, Commissioner, Chicago Dept. of Planning and Development
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Sendy Liseth Soto, Chicago’s first Chief Homelessness Officer
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Lissette Castañeda, Commissioner, Chicago Dept. of Housing
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Maria Hadden, Chicago’s 49th Ward Alderwoman
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Sol Flores, CEO, Knight Family Foundation
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Angela D. Brooks, Director of the Illinois office of CSH
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Nneka Onwuzurike, First Deputy on the Business and Neighborhood Development, Chicago Mayor's Office
These speakers will be part of presentations and six panel conversations made up of other Chicago and Illinois leaders along with special presenters from existing tiny home communities in Austin, Dallas, Seattle, and California’s Bay Area. They will discuss the challenges and successes of building and operating tiny home communities in their regions.
“Chicago has a chance to solve our housing crisis, and this summit provides an opportunity to discuss adding new types of housing to our toolkit,” said Summit Director Tracy Baim, co-founder of Pride Action Tank. “Given the continued housing crisis, the time is now to innovate and expand on existing housing options in this region. Tiny homes can be beautiful, quicker to build, lower cost, environmentally friendly, accessible, and provide dignity. We have the land and expertise, we just need to work together to scale this to meet the needs of tens of thousands of Chicagoans and new migrants.”
More information can be found at https://chicagotinyhomes.com/2024/.
The Tiny Home Summit 2.0 at the University of Illinois-Chicago is presented by Pride Action Tank, a project of AIDS Foundation Chicago. The same group hosted the first tiny home summit in 2016.
The summit is being hosted with support from the Knight Family Foundation, The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, Alphawood Foundation, BMO, UIC Gender & Sexuality Center, and Windy City Times.
The general public can purchase tickets to participate in the entire day. General public registration is $85. A student rate is available for $20. Breakfast and lunch are included in the ticket price for all attendees. https://action.aidschicago.org/TinyHomeSummit.
Interested media should contact Summit Director Baim for media registration. The entire Summit will be open to the media.